And as it did two years before this, and the year before that, the Oscar goes to show that people who put on performances for a living sure do think that stories about people putting on performances are super duper fascinating.  This time the performance is at least a Broadway play and not another movie, but there’s plenty of talk about the movies, as the lead character is a Hollywood guy trying to establish some credibility on the stage.  Birdman is, I guess, a satire, but it doesn’t seem to have much to say about its targets.  Its commentary is either just a matter of observing that certain modern phenomena exist⁠—superhero movies are popular even though they are not generally great art! social media is a thing and Kids These Days are constantly pointing their phones at stuff hoping it’ll go viral!⁠—or dusting off observations about showbiz that were moldy long before I was born.  Those method actors are always asking the director what their motivation is, amirite?  And critics contribute nothing to society, as Laura and I were told on a BART train by a guy with a massive bleeding head wound.  The filmmakers try to jazz this up by flexing some cinematic technique (look, Ma, no cuts!) and tossing in some magical realism that was done better in Bird People.  Plus in Bird People you got multiple bird people rather than just the one bird man.

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